What to do when faced with an inevitable accident?

[babybunny]

I ride on campus and there's a lot of stupid people here who apparently never understood the logic behind "look both ways before crossing the street."

Say that you find yourself going straight for a person, and there's no time to change direction or slow down. A collision is inevitable. Besides thinking "this is *so* un-poofy..." what else would you do? Where should bikers aim to cause the least damage for both parties?

The same question goes for running into the back of a suddenly stopped car, a car that turns right into you, or backs into you.

 

[RC2]

Do you know the front-brake-only rule to stop a bike in the minimum amount of distance. That'd be a good place to start. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Beyond that, yelling and crapping your bibs are about all that are left... And per the previous post, when faced with more than one optional student 'crash victim', always choose the cutest.

 

[Telegram Sam]

Hahahahaaaaa! I ahd a crash two weeks ago- tried to keep my cool and apply just enough front brake to stop and flew right over the handlebars- clipped in! The clips gave up the ghost about halfway through the arc, and my bike bounced off the side of my head...
Fortunately I fall A LOT persuing my other passion, skateboarding in empty swimming pools, so I came out unscathed.
My wife did a better job of it. Grabbed the front so hard she bent the handle and the brake broke (v-brake- keeper for cable bent and released cable), and never lifted the rear tire. I don't how she did it, but after seeing the brake handle, I definately didn't make any smart ass comments about the crash (she ran into me...but she has little experience).
So yeah- If your gonna crash, grab all the front brake you can get and hang on- it at least makes the ride more fun! (seriously, it is 70% of your stopping power)

I think if your gonna hit something, power slide. Remember like we used to do on the BMX's? Tilt your body sideways, pitch over and grab the rear brake- you will skid to a stop (better plant the inside leg!!), and hit the object with less force. It works the same on road bikes as it did on BMX's, and if you pull it off, you make a ton of noise and look cool doing it.

 

[davidbod]

I ride on campus and there's a lot of stupid people here who apparently never understood the logic behind "look both ways before crossing the street."

Say that you find yourself going straight for a person, and there's no time to change direction or slow down. A collision is inevitable. Besides thinking "this is *so* un-poofy..." what else would you do? Where should bikers aim to cause the least damage for both parties?

The same question goes for running into the back of a suddenly stopped car, a car that turns right into you, or backs into you.

Learn how to do an emergency stop. To do this you throw your but over the back of the saddle leaning as far back as possible and then apply both brakes. With your weight low and back you can apply significant front braking power without going over the handle bars.

In your case with the pedestrian the best advice is not to pass within feet of said person while doing 20 MPH. You can usually predict what is going to eventually happen when you ride like that.

 

[RC2]

To do this you throw your but over the back of the saddle leaning as far back as possible and then apply both brakes.

Yes on getting your weight far back, off the rear of the saddle.

No on applying the rear brake during an emergency, full-on stop...dangerous.

 

[artmichalek]

Hahahahaaaaa! I ahd a crash two weeks ago- tried to keep my cool and apply just enough front brake to stop and flew right over the handlebars- clipped in! The clips gave up the ghost about halfway through the arc, and my bike bounced off the side of my head...
Fortunately I fall A LOT persuing my other passion, skateboarding in empty swimming pools, so I came out unscathed.
My wife did a better job of it. Grabbed the front so hard she bent the handle and the brake broke (v-brake- keeper for cable bent and released cable), and never lifted the rear tire. I don't how she did it, but after seeing the brake handle, I definately didn't make any smart ass comments about the crash (she ran into me...but she has little experience).
So yeah- If your gonna crash, grab all the front brake you can get and hang on- it at least makes the ride more fun! (seriously, it is 70% of your stopping power)

I think if your gonna hit something, power slide. Remember like we used to do on the BMX's? Tilt your body sideways, pitch over and grab the rear brake- you will skid to a stop (better plant the inside leg!!), and hit the object with less force. It works the same on road bikes as it did on BMX's, and if you pull it off, you make a ton of noise and look cool doing it.

The power slide works if you're headed for something heavy. You lose the tire, but if you think that your tires are worth more than your face, then your priorities are a bit skewed.
For pedestrians and low lying road hazards, it's sometimes best to just lock the front brake and do a full superman over the bars, because the only thing worse than a high speed meeting with the deck is landing on your bike. Make sure to get a forearm down first and hit the ground rolling. Be warned that if you're going fast, you're going to get some serious hang time. At least it seems like you're in the air a long time. Just relax, enjoy the ride, and try not to think about how much the next week is going to hurt.

 

[keydates]

The problem with the superman/endo is that you're rather likely to land on your neck, which isn't very good even with a helmet on.

 

[lumpy]

Say that you find yourself going straight for a person, and there's no time to change direction or slow down. A collision is inevitable. Besides thinking "this is *so* un-poofy..." what else would you do? Where should bikers aim to cause the least damage for both parties?

Aim for the pedestrian and use him as a cushion as you collide and tumble onto the ground. At least one of you won't be hurt

 

[mjw_byrne]

I read about a cool-sounding emergency stop technique: you yank the front wheel off the ground as if you're going to jump onto a kerb and quickly turn it 90 degrees, so that when it comes down it's at right angles to the direction of travel. The wheel and fork should crumple up in a "controlled" fashion....you will crash and wreck your bike, of course, but it's meant to be a good compromise between doing an endo and slamming into the thing you're trying to avoid.

 

[martin_j001]

Aim for the pedestrian and use him as a cushion as you collide and tumble onto the ground. At least one of you won't be hurt

Took the words right out of my mouth. But, I would add that if you unclip from your pedals, and grab the front brake for all its worth, your bike may just fall over and you will have the opportunity to launch yourself "superman style" into the pedestrian. (This method also gets the bike out of the way if its a hot chick and you want to get on to "getting to know her" right away
)

Jeff

 

[blazingpedals]

If the object in front of you is a pedestrian, you should yell loudly! Peds are more maneuverable than bikes, and can often reverse course quickly enough to avoid the accident that you cannot. Fpr the same reason, you should hold your line, regardless of what braking technique you use.

Since I'm usually on a lowracer, I would just grab both brakes as hard as I dare. I'm tempted to say endos are impossible for me, but there might be some extraordinary circumstances that could produce one.